Latest news with #SunRecords
Epoch Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Risk to Reward: Hymns by Johnny Cash
Throughout the mid-1950s, country music dynamo Johnny Cash established himself as one of America's rising stars with hit singles like 'I Walk the Line.' Cash initially made a name for himself on the Sun Records roster. Headed up by producer Sam Phillips, the label took America by storm with its rockabilly sound and trailblazing artists like Carl Perkins. As much success as Cash had already had with Sun Records, he yearned for something different. Even during his initial auditions for Phillips, he played gospel songs. Though his first two albums had more raucous stylings, he continued to ask Phillips when he'd get the chance to record a gospel album.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rock and roll legends celebrated in Sun Records show at Concorde Club
A concert show endorsed by the Sun Entertainment Corporation is coming to Eastleigh. Sun Records, The Concert will be at The Concorde Club on May 18. The show is a tribute to the Memphis recording studio that discovered rock and roll pioneers such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. Concert show producer Pete Tobit said: "Sun Records, The Concert takes the audience right inside the studio where the magic happened and lets the music do the talking." Show recreates legendary studio with authentic sound and style (Image: SJB Marketing) Tickets for the 8.30pm show are available from The show has been rehearsed in an exact replica of the Sun Recording studios and features the original musical instruments of the era. John Singleton, president of the Sun Entertainment Corporation, said: "Sun Records, The Concert captures that perfect imperfection perfectly – in a two-hour spectacular that'll leave you calling out for more."
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Local actor takes the stage at Historic Savannah Theatre
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — One night in 1956, musical history was made when an extraordinary twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley together for the most incredible jam session. That event– known as the Million Dollar Quartet – will soon come to life again at the Historic Savannah Theater. The Tony Award-nominated show tells the mostly accurate story of what happened when these then-young performers (some details have been dramatized for entertainment purposes) came together at Sun Records studio in Memphis. Savannah Theater has put together a stellar cast and Zachary Tate – who was born and raised in Savannah – stars as Johnny Cash. 'I'm just so blessed to be able to do the show in Savannah, a town that I love with my whole heart. I think it's going to be a great time for everybody. This is my first time music directing the show, so I'm excited to have a little bit more creative freedom in that regard with the music.' First time as music director, but not his first time with 'Million Dollar Quartet.' This is his tenth production of the show, so he knows each character inside and out. 'I've done what's called 'swinging,' which is when you cover multiple roles. I've portrayed Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley.' Zachary says this show has something for everyone, whether you grew up listening to the Million Dollar Quarter or not. 'I think [the show] for all ages, especially folks who were around when these guys were playing music and maybe got a chance to see Elvis or Johnny Cash in person and they want to relive that…to go back to their childhood and feel like a kid again. And then for younger folks who maybe aren't as familiar with these musicians, I think there's a lot for them too, because I know our lives have been just greatly moved by these artists.' 'Million Dollar Quartet' isn't just actors singing songs. It is a true musical revue. Tate says, 'You're not just hearing the music. You're learning the story of that fateful night in music history. 'People are drawn to the big names like Elvis, Cash, Perkins and Lewis. But you get to know who Sam Phillips is too.' (Philips was the owner of Sun Records who brought the musicians together for the session.) 'If Elvis is the king of rock and roll, Phillips is the father of rock and roll.' As a Savannahian, it's not lost on Tate how special it is bringing this show to the Historic Savannah Theater. 'This is the first time that I've gotten to work professionally here in Savannah. It's awesome to be home, especially with such an awesome show.' Get ready to sing and dance in the aisles at the Historic Savannah Theater when Zachary Tate and the talented cast of 'Million Dollar Quartet' take the stage beginning April 10th. Get your tickets here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Like a roadhouse bartender, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy serves familiar comforts and soaks up the world's strange spillages on his new album
The Purple Bird – Will Oldham's 22nd album as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – may be one of the warmest, mellowest country-pop releases of recent years, but that doesn't stop him using it to vent a little spleen about modern America. Over the porch-swing sway of opening track 'Turned to Dust (Rollin On)', he laments a nation 'tempted by the lure of a liar, who preys on the foolish and the weak'. Later, against the farty brass parp and accordion lurch of a polka called 'Guns Are for Cowards', he asks listeners: 'If you could do it without anyone saying that you'd committed a crime/ Who would you shoot in the face?/ Who would you shoot in the brain?/ Who would you shoot in the back?' More curious is his follow-up question: 'Then how would you feel?/ Exalted? Or destroyed?' Produced by David 'Ferg' Ferguson (best known for engineering Johnny Cash 's later albums and producing John Prine) and recorded with some of the most seasoned session musicians in Nashville, The Purple Bird is reassuringly well-crafted and woodsy. Musicians assembled at the restored studio of Cowboy Jack Clement – who started out engineering/producing for the likes of Elvis Presley Sun Records – and slotted into an easy groove. Fiddle solos slide like dovetail joints into heel-tapped beats; smoothly planed pedal-steel notes curl over the grain of sleepy strumming; banjo and mandolins skip across washboards; brushed drums saw into the sigh of backing vocals. There's soft-shoe, last-dance romance on 'Spend the Whole Night With You' as Oldham winks: 'Instead of seeing me off, you might just wanna turn me on.' The jaunty 'Tonight with the Dogs I'm Sleeping' sits squarely on its 4/4 beat while Oldham has fun tipping his throat back and howling: 'I'm all bark and she's all biiiiiiiite.' Co-written with country great John Anderson, 'The Water's Fine' chugs along merrily in the tyre tracks of well-worn Nashvillian chord progressions, as Anderson's companionable voice joins Oldham's from the passenger seat. The lovely, lullsome 'Boise, Idaho' floats by like a Southern breeze, with its watercolour washes of backing vocals by Brit Taylor and Adam Chaffins. Sometimes, though, the practised ease of the band and the safe song structures mean that tracks can slip into the background. More striking is 'London May'. A collaboration with the drummer of the same name from punk-goth band Samhain, it rises up from a dramatic piano hook – the kind that wouldn't be out of place in a Bond theme song. Over some gnarly electric guitar and an occasionally ominous drum pattern, the 55-year-old father of two sorrowfully (and acrostically) observes: 'Love Overcomes Nothing Despite One's Needs.' Oldham is consistently groping for a wider perspective. He sings of screaming at the stars; his own smallness in the context of seas, sunsets and centuries. On 'Sometimes it's Hard to Breathe', Oldham stretches his voice high and wobbly to assure us that: 'Though the constant implied threat of violence/ Eats away at our precious loving time/ We can make it for a while.' An emotional, sun-cracked Anderson joins him again on 'Downstream', a post-apocalyptic lullaby on which the pair agree: 'We live in the ruins of another life's dream.' It's a classic country slice of campfire wisdom. As is the bumper-sticker lyric: 'You're only as good as the people you know', from the yee-haw singalong closer 'Our Home' featuring Tim O'Brien. By sticking close to cosy genre format, The Purple Bird gives Oldham a framework for vocalising painful 21st-century truths with sly, stark wit. Like a roadhouse bartender, he serves familiar comforts and soaks up the world's strange spillages before sending you on your way with a wave.
